Iran's health ministry raised on Sunday the nationwide death toll from the new coronavirus to 54 as the number of infected cases jumped overnight to 978 people.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani pushed back Sunday against a key component of the US-Taliban deal signed a day earlier, saying he had not committed to releasing any insurgent prisoners.

A former interior minister was sworn in as Malaysia's premier on Sunday, marking the return of a scandal-mired regime to power after the last government's collapse but ex-leader Mahathir Mohamad slammed the move as illegal.

China's coronavirus death toll climbed to 2,870 with 35 new deaths, while the confirmed cases increased to 79,824 even as the infections outside the worst-hit Hubei province dropped with only three positive cases reported in a single day, continuing the trend of slowdown in the rest of the country, health officials said Sunday.

The US will complete its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan within 14 months with the initial drawdown of forces from a total of 13,000 to 8,600 happening in the next 4 months, according to the landmark deal signed between America and the Taliban in Doha on Saturday to bring lasting peace in the war-torn country.

The United States signed a landmark deal with the Taliban on Saturday, laying out a timetable for a full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan within 14 months as it seeks an exit from its longest-ever war.

An Iran Health Ministry spokesman says the new coronavirus has killed 43 people amid 593 confirmed cases in the Islamic Republic.

A Turkish official said Saturday that Turkey destroyed a chemical warfare facility in northwest Syria after dozens of its soldiers were killed by Syrian regime fire.